ISSUE 105
AUTUMN 2020
EXPAND YOUR MIND, REFINE YOUR WARDROBE
Martin Freeman “You could say I’m a mod, but with a small ‘m’. I don’t wear a parka, but I do question what I wear and what I listen to, which is what it’s all about”
TOM SIMPSON
The dramatic end on Mont Ventoux to the legendary British cyclist’s career
TIGER BAY BLUES
Chris Sullivan on how Calypso entered Britain via the Cardiff coast
SCOTT SIMPSON
The Talented Mr. Simpson’s collection of Riviera clothing 05>
9 771749 966087
ISSUE 105
£6.99
THE CHAP MANIFESTO 1 THOU SHALT ALWAYS WEAR TWEED. No other fabric says so defiantly: I am a man of panache, savoir-faire and devil-may-care, and I will not be served Continental lager beer under any circumstances. 2 THOU SHALT NEVER NOT SMOKE. Health and Safety “executives” and jobsworth medical practitioners keep trying to convince us that smoking is bad for the lungs/heart/skin/eyebrows, but we all know that smoking a bent apple billiard full of rich Cavendish tobacco raises one’s general sense of well-being to levels unimaginable by the aforementioned spoilsports. 3 THOU SHALT ALWAYS BE COURTEOUS TO THE LADIES. A gentleman is never truly seated on an omnibus or railway carriage: he is merely keeping the seat warm for when a lady might need it. Those who take offence at being offered a seat are not really Ladies. 4 THOU SHALT NEVER, EVER, WEAR PANTALOONS DE NIMES. When you have progressed beyond fondling girls in the back seats of cinemas, you can stop wearing jeans.
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5 THOU SHALT ALWAYS DOFF ONE’S HAT. Alright, so you own a couple of trilbies. Good for you - but it’s hardly going to change the world. Once you start actually lifting them off your head when greeting passers-by, then the revolution will really begin. 6 THOU SHALT NEVER FASTEN THE LOWEST BUTTON ON THY WAISTCOAT. Look, we don’t make the rules, we simply try to keep them going. This one dates back to Edward VII, sufficient reason in itself to observe it. 7 THOU SHALT ALWAYS SPEAK PROPERLY. It’s really quite simple: instead of saying “Yo, wassup?”, say “How do you do?” 8 THOU SHALT NEVER WEAR PLIMSOLLS WHEN NOT DOING SPORT. Nor even when doing sport. Which you shouldn’t be doing anyway. Except cricket.
CONTENTS 8 AM I CHAP?
Readers submit themselves to the ultimate sartorial assessment
10 SARTORIAL ODDITIES
A Russian Constructivist jumpsuit, a latex three-piece and the innovative Sophistisandal
12 EXTREME BUTLING
Mr. Gimpley-Spankworth on sartorial and etiquette matters
9 THOU SHALT ALWAYS WORSHIP AT THE TROUSER PRESS. At the end of each day, your trousers should be placed in one of Mr. Corby’s magical contraptions, and by the next morning your creases will be so sharp that they will start a riot on the high street.
16 SARTORIAL THUG
10 THOU SHALT CULTIVATE INTERESTING FACIAL HAIR. By interesting we mean moustaches, or beards with a moustache attached.
30 T HE CHAP TAROT
Our man in Nottingham’s coddiwompling diary
FEATURES 22 MARTIN FREEMAN INTERVIEW
Chris Sullivan meets the stylish actor to discuss mods, clothes, Acid Jazz and the poor standards of actors’ clothing Pandora Harrison helps readers gain insight, wisdom and enlightenment
36 K ATE MOSS
Sunday Swift unravels the mythology of Kate Moss
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AUTUMN 2020
22 SARTORIAL FEATURES 44 SCOTT FRASER SIMPSON
We spent a rainy afternoon in Worthing discussing Riviera and Palm Beach styles with up-and-coming new menswear designer the talented Mr. Simpson
60 LAUNER
Liam Jefferies on the 80-year-old leather goods company who make exemplary wallets for gents and handbags for the Queen
64 G ET THE LOOK: THE HEP CAT
The essential components of this pre-rock ‘n’ roll 1940s and 50s style of dress, and where to acquire them
68 P ALM BEACH STYLE
Darcy Sullivan on how a resort for the wealthy in the 1950s gave rise to a distinct sartorial style
75 STETSON HATS
Matt Deckard, creative director of Stetson, on how he brought the romance back into the heritage brand
82 C OMMUNITY CLOTHING
Patrick Grant’s sideline from Savile Row in the creation of a brand that has jump-started the British manufacturing industry
87 U TILITY CLOTHING: CC41
Peter Gosbee on how Utility Clothing was initially seen as frugal and unstylish during the Second World War but went on to form the defining silhouette of 1940s Britain
LONGER FEATURES 94 TOM SIMPSON
Gustav Temple’s tribute to the golden boy of British cycling who styled himself on Major Tom and whose career was cut short during the 1967 Tour de France
102 DRINK
Olly Smith on what beers to stock up on at home, now that pubs have ceased to be so appealling
106 T EQUILA
The arrival of a new premium tequila that is not served from rifle belts in ersatz cantinas in the suburbs
110 FLY FISHING
Sophia Coningsby shares her passion for the solitary pursuit of fly-fishing along the rivers of England, with only a tasty Cuban cigar for company
116 T IGER BAY BLUES
Chris Sullivan pays a visit to the docklands of Cardiff, to find out on how Caribbean music entered Britain in the 1950s via the taverns of Tiger Bay
REVIEWS 128 A UTHOR INTERVIEW
Gustav Temple interviews our own literary editor Alexander Larman about his new chronicle of Edward VIII’s abdication The Crown in Crisis
135 BOOK REVIEWS
Books about the Beatles, Philip Larkin and Oscar Wilde
138 COCKNEY SINGALONG
An interview with Tom Carradine, dapper ivory-tickler who keeps old Cockney songs alive and also played in the stage production of Hi-De-Hi
146 A HISTORY OF MEN’S GROOMING
The importance of maintaining a well-groomed appearance, from brilliantined locks to waxed moustache
152 THE CAPTAIN’S LIP WEASEL
The results of our moustache growing competition, judged by Captain Fawcett’s right hand man
157 ANTIQUES
How to spot the potentially priceless items in a handful of loose change
160 CROSSWORD
Cover photo: © Jim Smeal/Shutterstock
ISSUE 105
Interview
Ma r tin F r eem a n Chris Sullivan meets the stylish actor to discuss the mod aesthetic, music, Mark Powell, badly dressed actors and acid jazz
M
artin Freeman is that rarest of creatures. He is a world famous thespian who is not only very good at his job but, even by the standards of the most anally retentive style monger, is also an extremely stylish individual with exemplary taste in music. Indeed, this star of stage and screen (both big and small) has displayed his considerable knowledge of music by assembling, in partnership with Eddie Piller of Acid Jazz Records, a series of compilations called Jazz On The Corner, the second of which has just been released on double vinyl, CD and download. A quite exceptional collection, your man has chosen, among others, The Magilla, saxophonist Stanley Turrentine’s 1966 mod jazz workout for Blue Note, Chico Hamilton’s conga led mambo The Conquistadores (1965) and Roberta Flack’s priceless anti-Vietnam anthem Compared to What (1969).
“Going through my records again for things that haven’t appeared on loads of comps (as far as I know of, anyway) is a fine excuse to do my favourite thing and pretend it’s work,” writes Freeman in the sleeve notes. Certainly, he is gripped by both great music and fine clothing and, even though he finds it hard to describe himself as a mod, he certainly subscribes to the subculture’s ethic.
“Some people think it’s odd that I care so much about this or that collar but that is how I am. For me it’s always the details. I sometimes wish I didn’t care about my appearance, as life might be a bit easier” 22
© Jim Smeal/Shutterstock
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Dandizette
Kate Moss Even at 46, she’s one of the most recognisable British models of all time, and when her face doesn’t grace the cover of a fashion magazine it’s splashed across a red-top. She is the poster girl for sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll and, more than that, she’s survived. Sunday Swift unravels the mythology of Kate Moss
“Dandyism is the construction and control of an artificial image for the consumption of others. Kate Moss has not only created one of the most recognisable images in our contemporary culture, but also found a way always to keep that image new through constant reinvention”
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The Face. It was not a standard photoshoot with a large crew full of stylists and technicians working together to create an image: rather, it was just Moss, spontaneity and realism that Day was after: “I wanted just to photograph her as herself, to try and get it as a documentary as possible. And get her character and her presence in the picture. Because fashion photography really wasn’t about that in the 80s, it was all about the photographer.” And so Grunge was born, and the face of this new aesthetic was Kate Moss. Curiously, amidst all this talk of spontaneity and dirty realism, Phil Bicker, the visionary director of The Face, says, “It looked natural and simple but it was carefully constructed to look like that. In fact, as I recall, I sent them down there two or three times until they got it right.” Grunge, like punk, was built on the artifice of real rather than the real itself.
o-one was ready for Kate Moss. When she emerged, supermodels were buxom, athletic creatures: Kathy Ireland, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer. No one could have guessed that these Amazons would be unseated by a 5' 7" teenage girl from Croydon. Katherine Ann Moss was born on 16th January 1974 in Croydon, London. Her mother Linda was a barmaid and her father Peter was an airline employee. She led a relatively quiet life until one day, waiting for a flight from New York to London, she was approached by the founder of Storm Management in London. She was fourteen. For two years, she did small jobs but when she turned 16, everything changed. Photographer Corinne Day was interested in the anti-supermodel quality of Moss for her shoot in the magazine
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Interview
SCOTT SIMPSON A rainy day in Worthing seemed like the perfect setting in which to meet a young fashion designer whose new collection evokes a 1950s French Riviera. John Minns spoke to Scott Simpson about how vintage is the backbone of all his designs, his early mod influences, his views on the paucity of youth subcultures and what exactly ‘retrospective modernism’ means
O
n your web site you state that vintage has been your guiding hand since the very beginning?
When I was 16 I started getting into scooters, so while at college I got myself a little Vespa. Then I joined a scooter club in Brighton, and they would take me along to soul clubs and teach me what mods were about. I’ve always believed in studying anything as much as you can to build up informed knowledge.
Yes, vintage is a foundation for me, for the whole brand, for my whole identity. I was born and grew up in Hong Kong, and my dad, who has been a huge inspiration for me and my clothes, brought us up around plenty of old stuff. He took us to school in a Morris Traveller, and he’d pull us along to antique shops, all of which made me appreciate older things.
Did your father’s passion for antiques have a bearing on how you studied the mod scene? Very much so. The clothes I designed at the beginning were an exact reflection of what I needed.
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Saffron and Green Striped Lido Shirt
Sartorial
Get The Look
HEP CAT STYLE Digby Fairfax on how to dress like the sort of 1940s/50s buck who frequents jazz clubs, clip joints and reefer parties
L
et us make one thing crystal clear: we are not speaking of the contemporary hipster. While jazz-jumpin’ chaps from the midtwentieth century were sometimes referred to as ‘hipsters’, we are going to use the term ‘hep cat’ to distinguish this stylish breed from their bearded millennial counterparts.
Chaps who favour the forties may be perfectly happy in their three-piece suits, demob trilbies and co-respondent shoes, but should they wish to delve slightly further into alternatives, the hep cat look is but a small step away and opens up a whole new world of possibilities, while still maintaining the sartorial decorum expected of a Chap.
SHOES The definitive hep cat shoe is of course the saddle shoe, whose originator in the 1950s, GH Bass, disappointingly does not see fit to continue producing them, at least not on the eastern seabord of the Atlantic. The most economical UK versions are those peddled by Rocket Originals (www. rocketoriginals.co.uk), available in navy and cream or brown and cream (£99). For a sturdier item, head over to Mark McNairy (www. markmcnairy-uk.com) for the previously featured Saddle Shoe in navy suede with brown leather saddle (£245). For a simpler look below the trouser, Rocket Originals sell a plain white Nubuck Gibson (below right), while www.penahaus.com provides an impressive display of 1950s-style shoes, including a plain black suede number called the Wolf Black (below left).
£99.00
€140.00
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TROUSERS You might think that hep cats, what with all the dancing £49.00 and fighting with flicknives, would favour a belted trouser, but this is not always the case. Braces can accompany the hep cat’s raiment, and if you seek the most authentic number, Simon James Cathcart (www. simonjamescathcart.com) purvey the ‘Biscuit Dot’ variety at £49. The trousers for them to support can also come from Cathcart, for instance a pair of Open-Weave Arkwright Trousers or Grey Wool Ellington Trousers (below). The Peg Trouser is a belted option for the braceless; try Morellos, whose English-style Pegs (£70) have a saddle seam down the side and come in burgundy, navy or black. The Scott Fraser Collection has many wide-legged trousers, notably the ‘classic’ (£249), which are made to order and feature a 10-inch hem and high waistband.
£49.00
£42.00
SHIRT It must be understood that the hep cat shirt drifts rather far from the Jermyn Street particulars. Most hep cat shirts are worn tieless (don’t worry, there is accompanying neckwear – see below) as they are cut to be worn with an open collar. The 1950s ‘Gab Style’ shirt is usually sported in pastel colours, often in two-tone colours. The ones from Morellos (www. morellos-clothing.co.uk) come in at £50, in a range of colourways from russet brown to racing green. The Steady Rust Brown Panel Shirt (above) from Ozone Clothing (www.ozoneclothing.co.uk) is another variation, tending towards a bowling shirt. Simon James Cathcart makes a vintage-inspired polo shirt with long sleeves, available in similarly rustic shades of bottle green, mustard, burgundy and rust.
£149.00
£59.00
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Cycling
TOM SIMPSON Gustav Temple tells the tragic tale of the British cyclist whose promising career came to a dramatic end at the top of Mont Ventoux during the 1967 Tour de France
“Mont Ventoux was awesome; as you got closer and closer to it, you realised this is going to be something else. It’s just sheer hell; hell on wheels” Colin Lewis
T
he white rocky surface of Mont Ventoux can be seen from miles away, its sun-bleached stone giving it the appearance of a moonscape during the summer, while in the winter it is covered in snow. Regardless of the season, Mont Ventoux maintains its own ghastly climate at the 1,912-metre summit, veering from one day to the next from gale-force winds and storms to searing heat. Situated 60 miles northeast from Avignon in Provence, Ventoux has many nicknames, none of them flattering: Bald Mountain, The Giant of Provence, The Killer Mountain, the Hill of Death.
“The Tour de France is the most important challenge in the international calendar. Every day you are at the peak of your physical conditioning. You are always close to blowing a gasket, always close to breaking point”
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Music
TIGER BAY BLUES Chris Sullivan revisits what was once a den of vice, pleasure, danger and high thrills in the docklands area of Cardiff, and meets the residents who recall Tiger Bay’s glory days
“Tiger Bay was, in the simplest words possible, a symbol of racial, ethnic, religious and ecumenical harmony… my mother used to say ‘The League of Nations could learn a thing or two from Tiger Bay’.” Author and historian Neil Sinclair
I
n the 19th Century, the moniker ‘Tiger Bay’ was used in popular literature and slang (especially by sailors) for any dock or seaside neighbourhood that had a notoriety for danger. But the most famous one, which spawned its most famous daughter, Shirley Bassey, is Cardiff ’s Tiger Bay. Said chanteuse was born in Bute Street to a Nigerian father and Tyneside mother, but moved to the
more salubrious Splott area when she was young. She never returned to the rough and tumble of the docks but used its notoriety as a badge of honour, which angered many a proper resident. Bassey’s first hit, The Banana Boat, initially performed by Edric Connor and the Caribbeans, is a traditional Jamaican mento song whose lyrics are from the point of view of dockers working the
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Calypso King - the Flamboyant Lord Melody
“Just like Notting Hill, Brixton and the East End of London, the area exploded with vitality, feeding the needs that every port full of sailors demands. Tiger Bay became known as a place where you could drink and dance all night, score drugs and meet ladies of questionable virtue”
night shift, loading bananas in Port Antonio, Jamaica. A perfectly straight line can be drawn from the Jamaican port to Tiger Bay and to Barry docks, a few miles down the road, where the bananas landed with the sailors who brought them. Even back in the 1970s, I recall a friend’s brother being stung by a scorpion hiding among the bananas. The Caribbean mariners would hole up in Tiger Bay while their ships were being reloaded. Some caroused, drank and brawled in the area’s bars such as The Bucket of Blood, The Snakepit and The Packet Hotel (the latter named after the packet steamers, it allows free stay to sailors and is the only proper old pub left there).
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TinType Photo: James Millar
Interview
MUSIC HALL MAN Gustav Temple meets pianist Tom Carradine, whose Cockney Singalong show has become an established part of the UK cabaret scene, to discuss tickling ivories, moustaches, music hall, the Second World War, Hi-De-Hi and coronavirus
S
o, Tom, you’ve cornered the market in cockney singalongs. How did this come about?
It’s bizarrely something I’ve been destined to do forever. All through my university days, where I was doing a biochemistry degree, I always ended up being the person wheeled out to bang out the old tunes so everyone could sing along. I also grew up doing the Scout gang shows, and I learnt a lot of the old wartime musical tunes for that. The actual singalong show came out of the Twinwood Festival in Bedfordshire, where I was accompanying Dusty Limits the cabaret performer. There’s an old Nissen Hut there serving real ale,
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“There were performers called Lions Comiques, who were dapper dandy characters like George Layburn and his Champagne Charlie character, or the Great Vance. They were parodying the toffs and the working-class audiences loved it”
Photograph: Rose Callahan